Individual messages can be fully encrypted. But the user has to turn on that function. It's not automatic, as it is on Signal and WhatsApp. In 2018, Russia banned Telegram although it reversed the prohibition two years later. For example, WhatsApp restricted the number of times a user could forward something, and developed automated systems that detect and flag objectionable content. In a statement, the regulator said the search and seizure operation was carried out against seven individuals and one corporate entity at multiple locations in Ahmedabad and Bhavnagar in Gujarat, Neemuch in Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, and Mumbai. Telegram was founded in 2013 by two Russian brothers, Nikolai and Pavel Durov.
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